Paul V. Borghese (1605-1621): Mikropolitische Papstgeschichte (review)

Abstract

Paul V. Borghese (1605-1621): Mikropolitische Papstgeschichte. By Wolfgang Reinhard. [Papste und Papsttum, Band 37.] (Stuttgart: Anton Hiersemann Verlag. 2009. Pp. xxv, 715, with CD-Rom. euro218,00. ISBN 978-3-77720901-2.) Wolfgang Reinhard stands out as perhaps most prominent German historian of early- modern Europe, although he is not as well known in North America as he deserves to be. He has written extensively on expansion of Europe and on Reformation and Catholic Reform, where he has contributed significantly to development of confessionalization theory. Yet first and principal object of his research since late 1960s has been history of papacy, especially of Pope Paul V (Camillo Borghese, 1605-21). Making use of rich materials in Vatican Archives for Borghese pontificate and especially correspondence of papal nephew, Scipione Borghese (readers may recall magnificent bust of Scipione by Bernini in Villa Borghese), Reinhard, his many students, and his colleagues have produced so many articles and books that one can only agree when he asserts that Borghese papacy has attracted more scholarship than any other early-modern pontificate. The hefty volume at hand attempts to lay out a summary of this research. Some chapters, Reinhard notes, for most part summarize work of his students- for example, Birgit Emich's Burokratie und Nepotismus unter Paul V (1605-1621) (Stuttgart, 2001), which was reviewed ante, 90 (2004), 127-29. Fundamental to understanding Reinhard's approach are concepts of Mikropolitik (micropolitics) and Makropolitik (macropolitics), which he has taken over from organizational sociology and, to a lesser degree, political science. Analysis of its micropolitics can tell us much about character of a pontificate, Reinhard believes correctly. Micropolitics is a analogous to depth psychology. It has to do with persons, not institutions, with allocation of offices or positions and granting of favors and privileges for advancement of private interests, not formulation of policy for common good. Macropolitics, on other hand, is concerned with visible decisions made for welfare of particular political entity or state and their execution. The practice of micropolitics may undermine or foster welfare of community; two types of politics can overlap; for example, a prince might not be able to conclude a favorable peace treaty without buying off minister of other state. Nor should we identify micropolitics with corruption. Fairly clear norms existed- albeit informal ones, according to Reinhard- for practice of micropolitics. In this context he stresses importance of virtue oi pietas that dated back to Romans and required that one honor one's obligations to parents and children, family and clan, ancestors and compatriots. St. Thomas Aquinas, he notes, defined pietas as the practice of charity towards one's parents and native country. This virtue provides a positive foundation for nepotism, local patriotism (campanilismo), and clientism. It is by no means dead today. For Reinhard, case of Borghese represents a model instance of rise of a papal family. The author sketches normal career path of a papal bureaucrat with its many variations; goal was usually cardinalate. Cardinal Scipione then played a major role in many aspects of papal government. For this reason, Reinhard argues, similar to Emich, that he and other papal nephews should be considered just like his contemporaries Francisco Gomez de Sandoval y Rojas, duke of Lerma, in Spain or George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, in England, even though they operated in an elective monarchy. But literature on favorites has ignored them. …